On the Edge

Her hair fanned out around her as she fell. Her body as light as a feather, floated off the edge of the cliff. The woman was devastatingly beautiful, eyes like warm honey met Hannah's and all she could see in them was sadness. There was no fear to be found in their depths. Not as she reached her arms out and fell backwards.

In shock and terror, Hannah stumbled forwards. "NO!" she screamed, lunging for the woman. But when she looked down at her hand, still outstretched, she realised it was not an adults hand. It was the hand of a child.

She woke shaking, drenched in sweat. Her mother's ghost was still present in the room with her. White, long fingers reached to caress her face and stopped mid-air just centimeters away. As if suddenly remembering she couldn't touch her.

"Some days I wish I hadn't given you this gift, my sweet girl," her mother murmured to her. Hannah tried to shake the memory away.

"Sometimes, I wish you wouldn't describe death as a gift," Hannah grumbled back. She had been a medium for her entire life. She had resented it for just as long.

Hannah popped the lid off the whiskey bottle and took a long swig. The only thing that kept the "gift" at bay was alcohol (or other less legal substances that even she refused to touch). Her mother had not resisted those substances and when she was eight, she found her lifeless body in their apartment.

Of course, her ghost was very apologetic but it didn't really make up for the bad memory, the years in care and the whole orphan thing.

And now, Hannah mostly just tried to forget. Three more swigs of whiskey and her Mom's form began to blur. Five more swigs after that had her evaporating completely.

Hannah filled her hipflask, brushed her teeth, combed her hair and headed to work.

Her job wasn't hard, she got paid to hang around and take pictures of cheating wives and husbands. It paid the bills and sometimes she got a kick out of it.

She was standing in line behind today's target at a coffee shop when the news came on. "Heiress missing" flashed across the bottom and a familiar, enchanting face appeared on the screen. It was followed by a little girls tear soaked face, her father was holding her hand on their porch. Beginng for the woman to "Come home".

"NEXT!" the barista shouted. Hannah whirled back towards the counter and the queue that had now disappeared. Her target had long gone. Instead she faced an irritated looking barista. It wasn't him that concerned her though, as she stepped out of the way of those waiting behind her.

It was the woman's ghost flashing in and out behind him. "Help her," she begged. Those same honey eyes meeting mine. "Please, help her,". Her long blonde hair still fanned out behind her, like it did when she fell. Her white night gown floated eerily around her.

Then, she was gone.

Hannah turned on her heel, leaving the coffee shop. Her client and her target completely forgotten.

_____________________

It had taken two hours to get to New Haven. It was a quiet little fishing town and from the drive in it was very picturesque.

Hannah had combed her dark hair back and secured it with a clip, she had put on her best suit (well her only suit) and applied some makeup. The drive over had been about thinking of a plan. You can't really wander into someone's home and tell them you saw their wife die and you're pretty sure their daughter watched it.

Especially as her husband was the only suspect. Why else would he be appealing for her to "come home"? And the only reason she could think that the daughter wouldn't have told everyone about her death is because it was her Dad's doing.

Elise (the dead woman) had spent ten years working at Fincher and Gould before becoming a full time Mom and living off her families money. That was Hannah's way in.

Hannah swore as she drove up the mile long driveway, lined with trees and cobblestoned, it glowed with flecks of orange and red on the cold autumn day.

The house itself looked Victorian and loomed over the surrounding landscape. She pulled up outside the huge, solid oak main entrance. The architecture was spectacular. Hannah tried to imagine living somewhere like this, but it was too far out of her grasp.

Elise appeared in the passenger seat. "HELP HER!" It was a demand, not a plea. She was not begging this time.

"I'll try," Hannah whispered.

As Hannah got out onto the cobblestones, the main doors opened. He was handsome.

Well, in a "I may have murdered my wife, Ted Bundy" kind of way. His hair was dark and dishiveled, almost as dark as the circles beneath his eyes and contrasted sharply with how pale his skin was. He wore a suit but it was crumpled, like he had been wearing it a while.

Did he look like someone that had lost his wife? Could all of this be an act?

Hannah thought he looked genuine but even liars look genuine sometimes. If they didn't she wouldn't be in business.

"We aren't talking to the press again today," His voice was hollow, but authoritive as he appraised her and her crappy Fiat. She strode towards him anyway, pulling out her card.

She had seen plenty of people with money, she squared her shoulders, lifted her chin and willed steel into her bones.

"That is probably for the best." Her words were hard. "Fincher and Gould have sent me to investigate your wife's disapearance," she spoke with the confidence she imagined his wife would have.

"Fincher and Gould? Elise hasn't worked their for eight years!" He looked genuinely startled. Hannah studied his reaction closely. Was he startled because he was worried.

"I am aware of that Mr. Graham. Elise was well loved and the partners were sad to hear the news of her disappearance. They said she would never have left her little girl," to Hannah's surprise, Thomas Graham did not react.

She had half expected him to slam the door in her face. If he was guilty and refused her entry, she couldn't force her way in. He seemed to know it to.

"Alan will get your bags, just give him your keys. We will give you anything you need," Thomas said turning from the door. A man in his late fifties walked toward her, Alan she presumed.

Hannah had to carefully compose her expression. She was stunned. The most she had hoped for was to talk with Thomas, now she had access.

"Mr Graham!" Hannah called after him. "I would like to interview your staff, everyone that was working the night she disappeared." He half turned at this and nodded once.

"Alan will help you," he dismissed.

_____________________________

Alan, bless his heart, did just that.

The bad news, however, was after six hours of interviews, Hannah had very little to go on.

One of the servants remembered bringing Elise a drink upstairs at 8pm. When she entered the room, Elise was removing her makeup. They had a brief interaction, Elise said thank you and the servant told her to let her know if she needed anything else.

One of the cleaners remember seeing Elise walking towards her daughter Grace's room at 9pm.

Then there was absolutely no more sightings of her or Grace that night.

One thing all of the staff could confirm was that Mr Graham was in London for a meeting. He had left around lunchtime with their driver and the driver picked him up and bought him back at ten o'clock the next morning. That was when Elise was discovered missing.

As the driver left the large sitting room, Hannah raked her hands over her face.

How, in a house full of people, had nobody seen anything?!

She decided she needed some fresh air.

Hannah made her way through the house quietly and stopped to listen to someone reading out loud. Grace was good at reading, she had never heard an eight year old read Romeo and Juliet with such eloquence.

Hannah stopped behind one of the huge oak doors and listened closely.

Speaking to Grace alone might just get her the answers she needed. After all, Hannah knew something the police did not. Hannah knew Grace was there the night her mother died.

She inhaled deeply and pushed open the door.

Two pairs of eyes looked up at her from a desk. One pair were Grace's, a hazel brown that had some honey tones in, like her mother's. The other pair though were sharp and icy blue.

He had pale skin and blonde hair and looked to be about thirty.

He smiled politely at me.

"Can I help you?" he said, his voice was a soft purr. He seemed to think he would disarm me with his smile and his charm and I imagined that lots of women fell for it.

"I'm sorry, I was just looking for a way out into the garden," she smiled at them both. Grace looked between them but didn't speak.

"Ah, you need to keep going down the corridor, there is an orangery and some french doors," he directed as Hannah nodded.

"Wonderful, thank you," she went to turn away but paused. "I am talking with everyone today, I am an investigator from London," his eyes seemed to sharpen."Could you come and find me when your lessons are over please? Mr Graham is insisting everyone cooperate".

Hannah didn't wait for an answer as she turned and left the room. She could feel his eyes on her as she closed the door.

___________________________

Hannah walked through the gardens for a while, thinking through the encounter. She realised Grace hadn't said a single word.

Her spidey senses were tingling. Whatever happened, he had something to do with it.

He was attractive, could it have been an affair? A lovers quarrel had her wanting to commit suicide, maybe. Or perhaps he had threatened to tell her husband.

In Hannah's line of work, it wasn't too unusual to have one person demand more than an affair. Maybe it was blackmail.

After walking for twenty minutes, deep in thought, Hannah began to hear something. It was the whisper of water.

Hannah followed the sound and the whisper turned to a crescendo as she came to a cliff. It was THE cliff. The one from her dream. The one Elise went over. She could imagine the cold, wet grass on her bare feet. She closed her eyes to pull the whole thing into view.

Elise had stood there, looking so sad. Elise had spread her arms out and fallen. Her hand... Graces hand had lunged towards Elise. Grace had screamed no and then Hannah had woken. She opened my eyes.

Hannah bit down a scream as Elise was inches away from her face "HELLPPP HERRR!"

"Tell me what happened then!" Hannah demanded back. Sometimes ghosts weren't great communicators. It was still frustrating though. Elise opened her mouth again, trying to speek but her image waivered and disappeared. Her pleading eyes still burned holes into Hannah's skull after she had gone.

Hannah stepped closer to the cliff. She half hoped Elise's body was at the bottom still so she could turn this over to the police. But, even before getting to the edge, Hannah could see the water was too high.

The water below was dark and churning. Hannah picked up a rock and dropped it over the edge. The mouth of the sea opened and swallowed it whole. Elise's body may never be found.

Hannah turned, sensing a presence and praying it wasn't a ghost with a another criptic message. But Mr Graham was slowly approaching.

"My wife loved it up here," his voice was carried by the whipping wind and he looked out over the ocean and the grey sky. Then without warning, he covered his face with his hands and sobbed. He fell to his knees on the cliff and Hannah hesitated before sitting beside him.

Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do, but she remembered crying when her Mom died. She had wished someone had sat beside her then.

__________________________________

Alan had put Hannah in the guest house overlooking the gardens. In the distance she could see the cliffs and the bay.

At 6pm there was a knock on the door. She opened it to find the man with icey eyes. He held out a hand to her.

"I apologise, we were not properly acquanted earlier. I am Daniel Jones, and you are?" She shook his hand with a firm, breif shake and then gestured for him to enter.

"Hannah Farrington. Take a seat Mr Jones". She motioned to one of two chairs around a table by the fireplace. He sat down.

"So, Mr Jones, where were you two nights ago?"

"You don't mess around, do you?" He asked, trying to be charming. Hannah had always thought that if you have to try to be charming, you would never pull charming off.

"No, I like to get the answers I need. Like for example, where you were two nights ago." She shot back.

He sighed. "I was here, in my room all night," he answered. Hannah frowned.

"You live here?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yes, on the East wing. Third door on your right after the stairs," he winked. As if she might consider visiting him. She cringed.

"And what do you do for the Graham's?" her skin was starting to crawl. She hated men like this. The one's that thought all women should want them.

"I am Grace's teacher, of course," He answered, icey eyes gleaming.

After answering a few more questions, Hannah let him leave. The urge to vomit was too strong every time he winked or smiled or implied she should throw herself at him. She would have to shower to get all of that sleeze off her skin.

Before leaving the room, he said "You know where to find me if you have anymore questions, officer," and winked at her again. She waited until he had been gone for a few minutes and gagged.

She sincerely hoped Elise had not been having an affair with this sleezeball.

There didn't seem to be anything useful in his statement. But out of curiousity, Hannah did decide to go and find out exactly where his room was.

_________________

The east wing seemed to be the main wing of the house. Some of the landing looked over the main foyer and at one end of it was Mr and Mrs Graham's room.

There was a main bathroom, then there was Grace's room and her play room. Two doors down from that was Mr Jones room.

Hannah stood on the landing overlooking the foyer. The cleaner that said she saw Elise heading to Grace's room at 9pm had claimed she was passing through the foyer. She said Elise was on the landing above.

What if Elise wasn't going to Grace's room? What if she was going to Daniel's room? It added to the theory that they were sleeping together.

Hannah heard Daniel's voice in the foyer, and not wanting to bump into him outside his room she went to the end of the hall and ducked into one of the rooms there. To her surprise it had another staircase off it. It must have been intended for survents.

She followed it down and into a utility room. The utility room had a door to the garden. Was this how they ended up outside?

Hannah's head hurt. She was sure this is what had happened. But she still had no evidence. The police couldn't arrest him with no evidence.

It was getting dark and so she walked back around the house to get back to her rooms.

Locking the bedroom door behind her (she was in the house with a murderer after all) she lay on the bed. Her head was swimming and she closed her eyes for just a minute, but that minute was enough for her to drift off to sleep.

___________________________________

Hannah jolted awake. A pair of ghostly eyes were inches above her own and she screamed, startled. It was Elise and she was frantic. "HELP. HELP HELP" she squarked. Hannah lurched upright in the pitch black room.

Elise shook her finger at the window, over and over again. "HELP" she cried. Hannah flew to the window to see a light in the garden, it was a torch. And in the small circle of the light she saw something that made her blood turn icey in her veins.

It was not Elise having an affair with Daniel. She saw enough to know that now. Grace could not talk about what happened because Daniel was abusing her. He bent down to kiss Grace, her small frame tried to squirm away but he held her.

With wide, pleading eyes, Hannah met Elise's gaze. She looked back out of the window to see Daniel yanking Grace towards the cliff.

Hannah unlocked the door and raced towards them. There was no time.

She keyed 999 into her mobile phone as she ran, pressing to confirm the call. She put the phone in her front pocket. Hoping they would be able to hear.

She caught up with them when they weren't far from the cliffs edge. He hadn't sensed her approach and the waves had drowned out her footsteps. Time slowed as she sprang forward, tackling him from behind. Grace screamed as they all fell, but he had let go of her arm.

"RUN!" Hannah bellowed to Grace.

Hannah jumped to her feet and Daniel was upright a second later. Hannah had her back to the roaring waves but she could see Grace hurtling towards the house.

She didn't chance a look but a presence beside her told her Elise was there and she was furious.

"You are nothing more than a dirty predator," Hannah hissed at him. There was one thing in the world she was truly, completley disgusted by, and he was it.

"She has never fought me or told me no. She wants me," he sneered. His eyes had a razors edge to them and it wasn't just those glinting in the dark. She realised he'd pulled a knife from his pocket.

"She is eight. You are an adult. She's too scared to fight you off." Hannah snarled back. "What did you do to Elise?"

"That bitch caught us out here. She had followed Grace and she saw... I grabbed Grace and pulled my knife. I told her I would slit Grace's throat if she didn't jump," He smiled then, like a predator that had caught his prey. "I was planning on letting little Grace live, she was my favourite after all. But then, you decided to get involved. Grace became a liability. I was going to get rid of her the same way her mommy went," he was enjoying this she realised.

Elise's anger rose and with it, the wind picked up.

It carried a voice to them "HANNAH!" It was Thomas shouting, running towards them with a hunting rifle in his hands. Hannah's head snapped in his direction for a split second but that second was when Daniel decided to make his move.

Knife raised for the kill, he darted forward, quick as lightning. Hannah realised at the last second and jumped to the side. Shocked, he turned and slipped, driving the knife towards her again even as his feet went over the cliff edge.

The huge knife embedded into her calf as he went over, pulling Hannah down too.

Hannah's nails broke as they dug into the stone, trying desperately to find a hold. Something to grip. Anything.

She managed to grasp the edge. Time seemed to stop as she waited what seemed like an eternity for Thomas to get to her. Daniel and his knife had already disappeared into the icy depths.

______________________________________

By some miracle the dispatcher had heard it all. The police had arrived a few minutes after Thomas had pulled her back up. She had sobbed and nearly passed out from the pain.

Her leg had needed stitches.

Elise had smiled at Hannah. Finally able to rest.

Grace had a long road to recovery ahead of her though. Hannah sincerely hoped that Daniels death would make her feel a tiny bit better. Though she couldn't imagine anything making that horror go away.

When she awoke in her apartment a few days later, to her Mom's loving face. She didn't hate her gift quite so much anymore.